Liver controlling dispersion refers to the core physiological function of the liver, and dispersion per se means dredging releasing and venting, so as to obtain a certain satisfaction and pleasure of the body and mood. In particular, for female, Chinese medicine theory believes that the liver and breast are physiologically closely related. “Jueyin liver channel of foot extends up and passes through the diaphragm, distributes in the chest and hypochondrium and advances around the nipple”, “female nipple belongs to liver”. Liver stores blood, controls dispersion, and can directly adjust the profit and loss of Xuehai in Chong and Ren channels. If worry or angry, liver Qi will be stagnated and cannot be released, Qi and blood in Chong and Ren channels cannot flow, leading to Qi stagnation and blood stasis. Before menstruation, Qi and blood gather in Chong and Ren channels and block the meridians, exacerbating breast pain and increasing the lump; and after meridians, Xuehai is emptied and the breast pain is alleviated slightly, however, since the blood vessel is blocked and cannot be smoothed for long time, the breast clumps cannot be dissipated.
Western medicine believes that breast hyperplasia and other breast diseases are mainly associated with the imbalance of ovarian endocrine. Some researchers have found that patients with periodic breast pain show elevated estrogen level, reduced progesterone level, or imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, resulting in excessive breast hyperplasia or subinvolution and as a result, fibrosis, and breast pain. In the field of Western medicine, conventional Western medicine products for the treatment of breast hyperplasia are hormones, such as male hormones, progesterone and estrogen. However, hormone therapy has some disadvantages, such as large side effects, easy to relapse, easy to cause endocrine disorders and unsuitable for routine application.
In view of this, Chinese medicine means which treat breast hyperplasia and other breast diseases from the pathogenesis overcome the disadvantages of the hormone therapy, and have received more and more attention and research. Chinese medicine believed that breast hyperplasia and other breast diseases are caused by Qi stagnation, phlegm stasis, and blood stasis, which are gathered in the breast and cannot be dissipated for long time, due to emotional upset, stagnation of liver Qi, deficiency of vial Qi, and stagnant movement of Qi-blood circulation. Therefore, Chinese medicine treats these diseases mainly by relieving Qi stagnation in Liver, adjusting Chong and Ren channels and activating blood circulation to dissipate blood stasis. At the same time, Chinese medicine treats diseases according to syndrome differentiation in the overall concept, combining the disease differentiation with syndrome differentiation, overall treatment with local treatment, internal treatment with external treatment, long-term treatment with short-term treatment, so an to treat both root causes and symptoms. There are many medicaments on the market for the treatment of breast hyperplasia and other breast diseases, but these medicaments have some disadvantages, such as too many herbs, complicated preparation process, large administration dose, unsuitable for long-term use and poor consumer compliance.
Modern medicine believes that the pathological changes of depression are mainly related to the central nervous system, immune and neuroendocrine functions, although the exact pathogenesis is still not clear. At present, there are some arguments, such as mono-amine hypothesis, neurotransmitter receptor hypothesis, neuroendocrine function change hypothesis and immune system abnormalities hypothesis and so on. At present, clinically commonly used antidepressants include tricyclic, tetracyclic, neurotransmitter inhibitors and monoamine oxidase inhibitors and other drugs. However, such antidepressant Western medicine products have some disadvantages, such as large side effects, unsatisfactory efficacy, poor compliance, and expensive price, which restrict the clinical application.
In view of this, Chinese medicine means which treat depression from the pathogenesis overcome the disadvantages of the above Western medicine for treating depression, and have advantages such as considerable efficacy, quick effect, be capable of improving the quality of life of patients, reducing recurrence rate, less side effects, good patient compliance and other obvious advantages compared with the Western medicine for treating depression, thus have wide range of development and application space and have received more and more attention and research. Depression is a typical disease caused by biological, psychological, social and other factors, and can lead to pathological response in multi-system and multi-level in the body. Therefore, drug therapies with single role and clear target unavoidably have some disadvantages, and generally manifest adverse reactions and recurrence. In contrast, Chinese medicine therapies acting on multi-level and multi-target have certain potential and advantages. In the remission of depression, the traditional Chinese medicine theory believes that depression belongs to the “yu zheng (melancholia)” category, and Qi activity disorder in Five Zang-organs is the basic pathogenesis of the disorder. In Five Zang-organs, liver has the closest relationship with melancholia, since liver controls dispersion and is the main reservoir of blood. Liver controlling dispersion means liver has the function of dredging, comforting, dispersing the qi activity in the body, so that it is smooth and no blocked, scattered and not stagnated. Liver controlling dispersion also has the role of emotional regulation. Liver controlling dispersion plays an important role in the balance and coordination of the rise and fall as well as entry and exit of Qi activity in all Zang-organs and Fu-organs in the body. So “Essay after Reading Medicine” describes “conversion of Qi of all the Twelve Regular Meridians in Zang-organs and Fu-organs must be boosted by the conversion of Qi of liver and gallbladder, so as to be smooth and not sick”. Therefore, if the function of liver controlling dispersion is normal, then the movement of Qi is in a harmonious way, Qi and blood are harmonious, meridians are smooth, and the activities of Zang-organs and Fu-organs can be properly adjusted. In normal physiological circumstances, the liver controlling dispersion is normal, and liver Qi rise, neither excitement, nor depression, but is comfortable and orderly, then people will be able to better coordinate their mental activity, reflected as happy spirit, comfortable feeling, sensible and bright, sensitive thinking, smooth Qi leading to harmony emotions, and harmony of Qi and Blood. If liver controlling dispersion is not normal, Qi activity will be stagnated, followed by a series of clinical manifestations of depression. However, the ease of depression using traditional Chinese medicine products is only a theoretical deduction and research, and there is no mature Chinese medicine prescription for the relief of depression.
In summary, the existing Chinese medicine prescription products for breast diseases such as breast hyperplasia and the like have disadvantages, such as too many herbs, complicated preparation process, large administration dose, unsuitable for long-term use and poor consumer compliance, and there is a lack of Chinese medicine products for relieving depression. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a Chinese herbal medicine composition and the preparation method thereof, which has the advantages of simple formulation, simple preparation process, small dosage, suitable for long-term use and good consumer compliance, and can treat breast diseases such as breast hyperplasia and alleviate depression at the same time.